SweetWater Gets High

It bugs me when people complain about flying. On a certain level, I get it. The seats are small and the flights are usually crowded with dudes in “business casual” attire high fiving each other and handing out business cards. But look, you get on that plane and four hours later, you can be on the other side of the country. Catch an early morning flight, and you can be surfing the Pacific by the afternoon. When you do the math, it’s pretty freaking amazing. And it sure as hell beats crossing the country by wagon train, smelling horse shit, and worrying about scurvy on the long journey.

Hell, you can even watch a movie and have a drink on planes now. Over the years, I’ve discovered that having the right amount of alcohol in my system is key to surviving mildly annoying situations like long distance flights, editorial meetings and coaching under-7 soccer practice.

I love those little mini liquor bottles on the plane—they make me feel like a giant. And you don’t even have to drink crappy beer anymore. A number of airlines have partnered with craft breweries located in their hub cities to feature their flagship brews on their flights.

I caught a plane to Las Vegas recently for…um…business…and was happy to discover that SweetWater 420 is now served on most Delta flights. The last time I flew, I had to suffer through three Budweiser’s while trying to figure out how to get my kid’s Transformer to change into a robot so he wouldn’t freak out mid flight. Okay, “suffer through” is a bit of an exaggeration. I still love my Buds, but it’s nice to know that when you’re trapped in the middle seat flying 500 miles per hour over the Mid West, there’s a beer option that offers an aggressive hop profile.

Even cooler (at least if you’re an Atlanta native whose earliest memories are of going to Atlanta Braves games with your dad), this spring SweetWater has partnered with the Atlanta Braves to release special packaging that features the ball team’s logo and Turner Field. For me, it’s a little slice of home in a can.